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Saving the Forest Service's Workforce Act
To institute a reduction in force moratorium at the Forest Service, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill prohibits the Secretary of Agriculture from conducting reduction in force actions or involuntary separations of Forest Service employees until Congress has enacted full-year appropriations for the Forest Service for fiscal year 2026. The moratorium applies to employees in the competitive service, career employees in the excepted service, and career appointees in the Senior Executive Service. Involuntary separations for cause due to misconduct, delinquency, or performance issues are permitted during the moratorium.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM] (D-NM)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN] (D-MN)
Actions (2)
- Jul 31, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. · senate
- Jul 31, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 31, 2025
Mr. Heinrich (for himself and Ms. Klobuchar) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To institute a reduction in force moratorium at the Forest Service, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Saving the Forest Service’s Workforce Act”.
SEC. 2. REDUCTION IN FORCE MORATORIUM AT THE FOREST SERVICE.
(a) In General.—Until on or after the date that full-year appropriations for the Forest Service for fiscal year 2026 have been enacted into law, the Secretary of Agriculture (acting through the Chief of the Forest Service) may not—
(1) initiate or implement any reduction in force at the Forest Service; or
(2) conduct an involuntary separation of any employee in the competitive service, any career employee in the excepted service, or any career appointee in the Senior Executive Service of the Forest Service except for cause on charges of misconduct, delinquency, or performance.
(b) Application.—For the purposes of carrying out subsection (a)—
(1) the terms “competitive service”, “excepted service”, and “career appointee” have the meanings given those terms in sections 2102, 2103, and 3132(a), respectively, of title 5, United States Code; and
(2) such subsection shall be in addition to any other authority with respect to adverse personnel actions, including chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code. <all>
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